My friend just gave me her 2004 Mini Cooper S. I'll start a thread about the project soon. I'm a decent home mechanic; I did a lot of work on my girlfriend's Gen 1 Mini so I'm familiar with them. My friend put about 80,000 miles on this Mini in California, but she did little maintenance beyond oil changes. Very minimal rust. I've got about $1,600 of parts in my cart at ECS right now. (New brakes, new clutch kit, etc.)

One thing I'll need to do is replace the clutch, and that involves taking apart some suspension components. That's one thing I've never done. I watched Mod Mini's video and it looks like there are some bushings and a balljoint that maybe I should replace while I have it out. And all four shocks are leaking and need to be replaced at some point.

Can anyone teach me a little bit about the front suspension? It's a mystery to me. Should I assume that the ball joints and bushings will need replacement, and if so, what are the things to replace? I only want to stick with stock or close to stock. The car is for my college age son and he's not getting any bleeping racing components in his car. If you're willing to PM me and maybe we can do an online chat or call that would be great, or just explain a few things here to help me get the hang of it.

Thank you so much!

 

PM me. I completely rebuilt my 2004 MC40 from the ground up and should be able to help you avoid some of the pitfalls.

 

Having just replaced the front struts on my daughter's '06 R52S this past weekend, let me share some of my experience (front suspension only).

Being a CA car, maybe you won't run in to this, but the heads of the strut pinch bolts snapped off on ours - both sides. I drilled them out (only need to drill out the side on the "front half" which is what the bolt threads in to, then I used a drift to punch out the remainer of the bolt). Drill it through and fit a longer replacement 12mm bolt and use a nut to cinch it. Make sure the bolt length does not interfere with the steering range (there's a vertical front subframe member in that area), and cut off the excess bolt length, if needed.

I went with Bilstein B8 struts. The ride is nice - responsive but not harsh. Yeah, they're pricier than other options, but I'm happy with them and then you have their lifetime guarantee, too. When I replace the shocks in the rear next year, I'll use Bilsteins, too.

I replaced the outer ball joints, as well. I wanted to replace the inner ball joints and the control arm bushing, but it almost looks as if you have to drop the front subframe to accomplish the bushing replacement. The axles look like they need to be out to get the one bolt out of the inner ball joint. I have the parts, but those will have to wait for when I have to do something more extensive which would involve dropping that front subframe.

 

New wishbone bushes while subframe is off
New ARB bushes while its off as well
New crank seal would be a good idea
replace powersteering pipe clips with decent clamps (jubilee etc)

The powersteering system can stay intact by dropping the PS reservoir down the back of the engine as you pull the subframe out, the pipe are flexible.

Front shocks are 3 bolts to top of the tower, and slide into the hub secured by a pinch bolt. The bolt needs taking out completely and if its anything like mine, the hub will need beating with a hammer. I chose to release the front outer ball joint by removing the 2 13mm bolts rather then break the taper.

Just remember to crack the CV nut in the centre of the wheel before removing the wheel otherwise the whole hub spins.

 

I’m sure I can figure this stuff out, but I don’t understand what all of these parts are on the Mini.

 

Wishbone bushes and ARB will all be left on the subframe when it is removed, good idea to do them while you have access but you will need to measure your arb with a vernier caliper to get right bushes (x2)
Crank seal is behind the flywheel, usually you can wind a wood screw into the face of it and use pliers to pull it out, just good practice to change it while box is out.

As long as you methodical its really easy, I done a 6 speed conversion on axle stands on my drive fine. The bolts you remove, either bag them in bundles or put the back in the threads or tape them in the whole they came out of, this way you know what goes where, several will have the same thread but length will vary, eventually you will find the bolt you needed is somewhere and your left with one too short for what you need lol

 

That’s where I’m lost. I’m not familiar with the terms; I don’t know what an ARB is. I guess I’ll pick up the Bentley book.

I watched many of the ModMini videos. It looks as though there are four ball joints on the subframe (I figured out what a ball joint is), and, I assume, several bushings. After I drop the subframe, if I have the right tool, I can press out and replace the ball joints and bushings. Then, later, I can replace the struts. I only want to use stock or roughly equivalent parts.

I’ve just never worked on a suspension before, besides replacing the shocks on my 1971 VW Bus a long time ago.

I want to work on the car for a week before he takes it to college and the clutch replacement will be most of that. I just want to do all the other quick stuff I can do while the subframe and transmission are out. As you can now tell, I’m a moron when it comes to suspensions. When you keep all your cars stock, suspensions rarely need work.

 

New wishbone bushes while subframe is off ----> Lower control arm bushings (the big bushings at the back of the arms)
New ARB bushes while its off as well ---> Sway bar bushings (where the sway bar mounts to the subframe)
New crank seal would be a good idea ---> rear main seal

 

I was unfamiliar with that acronym, too - ARB. Now I get it - thanks, @deepgrey ! ARB = Anti-Roll Bar a.k.a. anti-sway bar.

 

Sure thing, @khnitz .

By the way, I don't think it has been mentioned yet, but I could have missed it. While you have everything apart, it's a good time to fix any strut tower mushrooming you might have and/or replace the upper strut mounts if the bushings are failing. You might also consider adding some reinforcement to the towers if it hasn't already been done.

Oh, and unless there's something different about the R52S, the front sway bar should be 24 mm. I guess it never hurts to check though.

 

@Rebound , here are some pictures of the strut tower reinforcement plates I installed as part of installing the new struts and upper strut mounts on our car last week. I'm not sure which brand these are, but I bought them used here locally for a reasonable $30 price for the pair. On our Mini (with 162k miles), I did find some minor mushrooming on the LF (driver's) strut tower - I was able to massage it back with a 2x4 and 5lbs. sledgehammer. I'd like to find the strut tower brace that bolts between these plates, too, eventually, just for a little added stiffness and handling benefit.

And here is a picture of how bad our original upper mounts were torn. It's a must-replace item, for sure.

 

An interesting thread to follow, I noticed one item I'd strongly recommend replacing. The plastic coolant expansion tank is a known failure point at the seams. A stainless steel one is an easy install and the cap should fit.

 

Thanks! I’m going to start a different thread about all the replacement parts shortly.


I’m just a little bit confused about auto suspensions. I’ve never had to do suspension work on any of my cars, except for the ‘71 VW Bus, and that was a very long time ago. I still don’t know what the suspension parts are in a 2004 Cooper S.

 

I got this answer in the "What did you do to your Mini today?" thread - it looks to be reinforcement plates from M7, and their strut brace would bolt in there. I'll have to check with them if I can just order the brace, as they only show it with a kit on their site.